BTW I spent my entire teenage years listening to Paul every day at noon on 61 Country. No matter how maudlin, it was nice to hear his voice again.

That was as epitomically American poetry as anything Maya Angelou or Carl Sandburg ever produced.

Not everyone was bowled over at our party by the spot, but it was a definite period of respectful silence in the evening.

pasted here just because

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandburg

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

God rest Paul Harvey. Dude was excellent at his job and there was a definite hole in the journalistic world when he died. I loved Paul Harvey's daily broadcasts. I didn't so much get into the rest of the story much but it was a nice breakup of the afternoon. I kick myself for not getting online to listen to the broadcasts I missed.

When I was in high school I went home for lunch during the summer, his broadcast came on. He got on his soapbox a bit and talked about the resolve of the Country. I believe it had something to do with some country pursuing nukes and the US not doing anything about it, but I could be wrong. Anyway his message about staying competitive and willing to do what it takes is critically important. Anyway, his message was incredibly profound. So much so that I didn't go inside for awhile. I just shut the pickup off and sat there for a few minutes. And it's really something that it had that kind of an effect on a 15 year old kid and didn't hve anything to do with chicks beer or sports.

He was a great man and the best at what he did IMO. The world is lacking without him in it.

The Ram commerical was my favorite of the night. I am not a farmer but my Grandfather was and I gew up helping on the farm with a lot of the chores that were mentioned in the commerical. I know am now in corporate America and miss my days helping my Grandpa so this really hit home with me. The voice of Paul Harvey instantly took me back to my days with my Grandpa as we would always listed to his Rest of the story segment. This commerical was very powerful.

Yep, just hearing Paul Harvey took me back to the days when I hung out with grandpa and dadPosted via Mobile Device